Collaboration with leading director gets Marcus' artwork in DMU advert

Marcus, who graduated this summer from DMU, was initially involved in the advert to help find creative ways to generate a striking paint splash, but he ended up starring in the advert itself.

Marcus said: “Max wanted to collaborate with an artist from the university to inject creativity.

“Initially Max and I were looking at different ways to project the paint, so we were going to use this missile-launching device I’ve got, or we were going to use a drain-busting tool – the type used to unblock sinks.”

Max is best-known for his work on adverts for Nike and the Royal Navy and he worked with Marcus to help to bring creative ideas to the shoot.

“We had these different variations of what to use, but it turned out the simplest way was to get a bucket and just throw it!” Said Marcus.

During his time at DMU, Marcus has had exciting opportunities to develop his skills and showcase his work, including creating a piece of art to commemorate The Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon’s appointment as the university’s Chancellor.

A #DMUglobal visit to New York offered further chances to develop his art. Marcus explained: “I wanted to continue a project I’ve got called Urban Play, which is where I ignite smoke grenades in urban places.

“I took it upon myself to find some smoke grenades in Harlem and – at five in the morning – I ignited these smoke grenades and took photos. It was quite intense and quite nerve-racking, but some of my photos sold.”

His experience is typical of the #DMUglobal opportunities that students can take part in, which include international work, study and volunteer trips where students are encouraged to develop new and existing skills.

In the 60-second edit of the new TV advert Marcus can be seen preparing to work on a new piece of art, before he throws a bucket of paint, covering other DMU graduates who were acting as models.

Marcus said: “The reason I wanted to be involved is that I knew it was going to be a creative advert.

“I think that the scene I am part of reflects life at DMU because, in my experience, it is a highly creative university. I think my Nan and my Mum are just going to love seeing me on TV as well!”

The scenes required getting very hands-on with a lot of brightly coloured paint to create the perfect splash.

He said: “My feet are still blue from the paint – I would sum up my experience as ‘messy’!”

While Marcus has now graduated, he appreciated the level of student participation in the TV advert, adding: “I think it’s important to have students involved with the filming because it improves their CV, they can say they’ve had the experience of working on a TV advert.”

Shots from the paint scene can be seen throughout the 60-second version of the advert, representing the creativity and talent at DMU, as well as opportunities available to creative students.

One of our Game Art Design students landed a job working on one of the eagerly-awaited games of 2016, Contour Fashion students show their designs on a London catwalk and one of our Product Design graduates recently won a British Council competition in Korea.